A conventional suspension conveying apparatus having L-shaped hangers in which foreign matter, such as oil, worn particles, etc., may be prevented from falling upon the conveyed articles as shown in FIG. 1. The article carrying portion 3 of a L-shaped hanger 2 which is suspended from an overhead conveyor 1 is situated sideward of the conveyor 1 with a partition plate 4 therebetween for preventing foreign matter from scattering onto the conveyed article A. The momental force due to the conveyed article A acts upon the L-shaped hanger 2 so that a roller 5, which is adapted to roll against a guide rail 8 to resist the momental force, is mounted to the frame 6 attached to the vertical portion 3' of the hanger 2 with a reinforcing bracket 7 therebetween.
In the above-mentioned prior art, the distance between the guide roller 5 and the center of the tilting motion is relatively large, and consequently, the momental force acting upon the frame 6 becomes significantly large due to the substantial weight of the conveyed article, such as an automotive body. Thus, a reinforcing structure, such as the bracket 7, is required, which increases the total weight of the hanger 2. Moreover, since the reaction force of the guide roller 5 against the rail 8 acts vertically downwardly, the load acting upon the carrier rail of the overhead conveyor substantially correspondingly increases. Thus, the load acting upon the overhead conveyor increases correspondingly, which necessitates an increase in the strength of the component parts of the overhead conveyor, which in turn requires larger driving force of the conveyor.
Furthermore, although the partition plate 4 may be able to prevent foreign matter from falling onto the automotive body A, it cannot prevent foreign matter from falling straight downwardly of the conveyor. Therefore, in cases where the automotive bodies are coated by electrode-position, there is a drawback that oil, dusts, etc., are likely to fall into and contaminate the processing bath in which the bodies are conveyed for pre-treatment.